The color and warmth of winter

Wouldn't it be great if the cold ended when the holidays did? If spring started popping up as soon as the Christmas tree and lights were put away? I guess we wouldn't appreciate the color and warmth of spring without the cold, grayscale of winter :). But today, my girls proved to me just how much color and warmth there are to be had every day of the year.

First, Elle lit up the kitchen with her "Whistle While You Work" rendition (several octaves above the original already-higher-than-necessary version).

Then, when the 'work' was done, we decided to take a long winter's nap....(I wish :) )....I mean, walk! :) Eden snoozed the whole time in the stroller while Ryn, Elle and I enjoyed a veritable treasure hunt. We found lots of happy birds who sang to us....

the siamese cats from Lady and the Tramp and we sang to them ('we are si-am-ee-eese if you please')... a beautiful blue spruce (maybe? someone who knows plants can comment and correct me here)--whatever it was, it was beautiful :)....
...the bridge over the creek where the ducks must have flown south.......and a 'real' wishing well! Elle started singing immediately, "I'm wishing, I'm wishing, for the one I love...." Ryn couldn't believe it......so she started to wind up the handle to see if a prince really would come.... And then the winter wind helped us power little whirling bursts of color all the way home.

Choosing faith

One of my callings at church is to write, each month, a small section on spiritual strength for our Relief Society provident living newsletter. I've decided to keep a record of them here since many are written about what I've been going through or trying to accomplish in my own life. There is always a challenge at the end to give the me and the other women a small, attainable way to progress in that area each month. Maybe it could be of help to someone reading this blog one day, too.

January 2010
To be honest with all of you, even with all of its blessings, 2009 was one of the hardest years of my life. There were several moments every single day when I didn't know how I would overcome one challenge or another. And to make matters more difficult, most of them were challenges that no one on earth could help me with. They were mine to bear, mine to overcome, mine to learn from. One thing my dad taught me from the scriptures seemed to be the key to my survival:

"You always have a choice between discouragement and faith."

He taught me this principle through the story of Nephi and his brothers' attempts to get the plates from Laban. Each time Laman and Lemuel refused to help or obey the Lord, Nephi reminded them that they had the power and the responsibility to choose faith instead of discouragement (1 Nephi 3:7, 15-20; 4:1-3). Even though no one else on earth could help them get the plates, "the Lord [was] able."

And He is able. He is able and wants, more than anything (Moses 1:39, Alma 7:12), to help us through every challenge we face. I have felt that so deeply this year--each time that I humbled myself and chose faith. Of course, it is much easier to give in to discouragement--in all its forms: anger, doubt, self-pity, frustration, desperation, sadness, loneliness, fear--than to choose faith and the hard work that must accompany it. But, as described in Helaman 3:35, it truly is worth it.

Challenge: Try to specifically choose faith in each trial (big or small) that you face this month.

My life is a musical

I have to say that I honestly didn't think it would happen. Tyler Ginn and Brandon Black--two crazy guys from my senior English and Seminary classes at Klein High School--predicted way back then that my life would be a musical. Knowing how much I loved to sing, they joked around about how my husband and I would one day sing even the most trivial of things to each other non-stop.

Turned around in their desks, this is what I would hear daily from them during first period:
[insert football player opera voices]
"Honey, please pass the butter."
"Sure thing, dahhhh--ling."

Tonight, while I left Ryn and Elle eating their dinner so I could change a sleepy Eden into her clean diaper and pj's, I realized that Tyler and Brandon's prediction had come to pass. Ryn started making up yet another song about something and then didn't stop singing as she moved right into a musical conversation with Elle:
[insert sqeaky little girl opera voices]
R: Here is a pacifier.
E: It's miiiiiine!
R: Eat your food. You've got- to -eat -your -food (Staccato). Plee-ease!
E: OK!

So, OK, I admit it. I guess I really do sing all day every day, and make up songs to fit whatever we're doing...."mess-maker, mess-maker, make me a mess"...."I love my Ryn, I love my Elle, I love my Eden oh so well, I am so glad to be their mom cause I am happy all day long!"....but doesn't every mom do that? I know my mom did--maybe this whole thing is genetic :). Whatever it is, I'm grateful for it and I'll keep right on singing my way through this life and the next.

p.s. To clear Kevin from being implicated by this post...he has never asked me to pass the butter in song and I've never heard him make up a song about pacifiers or eating or any other daily task. But I do love singing with him any chance I get.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve this year was spent dancing the night away with the Linkous' and eating some of Kev's insanely amazing grilled salmon. Fabulous.

Then we had a fun little party with the girls on New Year's Day. They get so excited with the mere mention of that word. "A party?!" :) [squeals, screams, jumping and clapping] Oh, how I love little girls.

Making our own party hats from cereal boxes and scraps of ribbon, a fort over kitchen chairs and the TV where we could have a picnic viewing of G-Force, an exciting round of Chutes and Ladders, and pancakes (smothered in "sticky syrup") and eggs for dinner. When I was clearing the dishes and announcing bedtime, Elle turned around in that little pink seat and said, "Thank you for this fun party, Mom." I came over to give her a hug with a "you're welcome" and Ryn ran around the table to sandwich me between my happy party princesses. I marveled again at how simple happiness is for children. Uninterrupted, stress-free time with mom and dad (and a few M&M's thrown in for good measure).... and that hug of gratitude lasted for at least a full 5 minutes.